Uploaded October 2017 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
A look at an early effort to reduce the amount of electrical energy consumed by PCs and their peripherals. I don't think many people bought these and fewer still probably put them to any use. Case in point: the different prices written on and stuck to the box make me think this went through a few different garage sales.
The included software supports Windows and MS, PC or completely compatible DOS. OS/2, Macintosh and Unix are explicitly called out as being unsupported by the software, though you can program the device's built in microcontroller on a compatible operating system and use it with another computer running incompatible operating system software, so long as that computer has a DIN or PS/2 style keyboard connection. And, I suppose, a parallel port for the printer. (Serial printers don't appear to be supported.)
One of the very few relevant pages you'll find is one that I remember reading from the early 2000s, discussing this product's use with a Power Computing Macintosh clone (many of which had PS/2 ports). The images are gone, but the article still remains: usefulbulk.com/ES/es.html
They had the same observation I did about the printer!
Whoever MetaGEN International was (probably the actual contract manufacturer), they were the company to which the FCC ID (KTJ-ACR120ES) belonged. They seem to have manufactured one other product, a fax/modem board.
Extra credit: Can you identify the source of the sound made when I blanked the monitor?
A look at an early effort to reduce the amount of electrical energy consumed by PCs and their peripherals. I don't think many people bought these and fewer still probably put them to any use. Case in point: the different prices written on and stuck to the box make me think this went through a few different garage sales.
The included software supports Windows and MS, PC or completely compatible DOS. OS/2, Macintosh and Unix are explicitly called out as being unsupported by the software, though you can program the device's built in microcontroller on a compatible operating system and use it with another computer running incompatible operating system software, so long as that computer has a DIN or PS/2 style keyboard connection. And, I suppose, a parallel port for the printer. (Serial printers don't appear to be supported.)
One of the very few relevant pages you'll find is one that I remember reading from the early 2000s, discussing this product's use with a Power Computing Macintosh clone (many of which had PS/2 ports). The images are gone, but the article still remains: usefulbulk.com/ES/es.html
They had the same observation I did about the printer!
Whoever MetaGEN International was (probably the actual contract manufacturer), they were the company to which the FCC ID (KTJ-ACR120ES) belonged. They seem to have manufactured one other product, a fax/modem board.
Extra credit: Can you identify the source of the sound made when I blanked the monitor?
